Thread 24816054

I'm looking for accessible literature on zoroastrianism, mostly historical, but i can find almost nothing. Best i found was some stuff about communities of modern zoroastrians in Iran and India. What would you recommend?

Pic related, i got interested in it after that /his/ thread about how killing a beaver was seen as worse than murdering someone in Zoroastrianism.

>>24816054 (OP)
best I can do is ducks

>>24816054 (OP)
Bump

>>24816136
Thats mostly geese

It's actually disappointing and astonishing that there is so little information on Zoroastrianism. You'd think that such an influential religion would have more historical interest, but no.

Their commandments are hilarious though.

>Zoroastrian texts provide detailed lists of various kinds of sins men should avoid. In the Menog-i-khard (Chp. 36) we find the following list of 30 grievous sins.
>1.Of the sin which people commit, unnatural intercourse is the most heinous.
>2.The second is he who has suffered or performed intercourse with men.
>3.The third, who slays a righteous man.
>4.The fourth, who breaks off a next-of-kin marriage.
>5.The fifth, who destroys the arrangement of an adopted son (sator).
>6.The sixth, who smites the fire of Warharan.
>7.The seventh, who kills a water-beaver
>8.The eighth, who worships an idol.
>9.The ninth, who believes and wishes to worship in every religion.
>10.The tenth, who consumes anything which is received into his custody, and becomes an embezzler.

>>24820687
>don't have anal sex
>REALLY don't have anal sex

So this is the power of Zorostrianism...

>>24820697
and don't kill beavers

>>24820687
What does it mean to "suffer intercourse with men"? If I get raped in prison, am I getting sent straight to hell?

>>24816054 (OP)
Basically everything in English is by Prods Oktor Skjærvø (who attended a talk I gave once, one of my prouder moments). As you've discovered there's astonishingly little as far as published books and you pretty much just have to read academic articles
If you're really serious you could try learning Avestan but it's brutal

>>24820710
Did you give talks on Zoroastrianism? Whats your field?
And why are beavers held in such high regard?

>>24820687
>Killing a beaver is worse than idolatry
Ahura Mazda has his priorities i see

>>24816054 (OP)
I came into this thread to mention Prods Oktor Skjærvø but another anon beat me to it. In Germany we also have Michael Stausberg. He published a few books on that topic but I don't know how many of them are translated.

>>24820715
>>24820873
Which work of his would you recommend for someone who's a complete casual with surface-level understanding of the religion?

>>24820785
Oh come on, they're just chewing on wood all day. Harmless fellas, really.

>>24820687
>no intercourse with men
>beavers are holy
These guys are super straight

>>24816054 (OP)
>Zoroastrianism considers beavers holy
>Davy Crockett was an American explorer
>he allegedly wore beaver belts
>you need to kill beavers in order to make them
>therefore Davy Crockett is evil
>Persia is now Iran
>Iran considers America "the great satan"

Wtf

>>24820687
Rest of em:

>11.The eleventh is he who, through sinfulness, provides support for wickedness.
>12.The twelfth, who does no work, but eats unthankfully and unlawfully.
>13.The thirteenth, who commits heresy (zandikih).
>14.The fourteenth, who commits witchcraft.
>15.The fifteenth, who commits apostasy (aharmokih).
>16.The sixteenth, who commits demon-worship.
>17.The seventeenth, who commits theft, or abetting (avagitih) of thieves.
>18.The eighteenth, who commits promise-breaking.
>19.The nineteenth, who commits maliciousness.
>20.The twentieth, who commits oppression to make the things of others his own.
>21.The twenty-first, who distresses a righteous man.
>22.The twenty-second, who commits slander.
>23.The twenty-third, who commits arrogance.
>24.The twenty-fourth, who goes to a professional courtesan.
>25.The twenty-fifth, who commits ingratitude.
>26.The twenty-sixth, who speaks false and untrue.
>27.The twenty-seventh, who causes discontent as to the affairs of those who are departed.
>28.The twenty-eighth, whose pleasure is from viciousness and harassing the good.
>29.The twenty-ninth, who considers sin as to be urged on, and a good work as a day's delay.
>30.And the thirtieth, who becomes grieved by that happiness which is provided by him for anyone.

>>24820978
>America restores it's beaver population starting in the 50s
>Becomes the world's undisputed superpower
>Europe guts its beaver population to near-extinction
>It in turn becomes an irrelevant shadow of what it once was
Maybe we should've heeded Zoroaster.

>>24820952
Going by what I've read from Skjærvø, I wouldn't recommend him to a casual beginner. Stausberg's "Zarathustra und seine Religion" is more something I'd consider but I couldn't find any English translation of that. Actually, all of Stausberg's English language works also seem rather academic.
I've read a comment recommending Nigosian as introductory work but I've never read him so take that with a grain of salt.

>>24820687
>>24820982
this seems rather reasonable quite frankly

>>24816054 (OP)
Why not just read their sacred book the Avesta?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avesta

>>24821287
Why are beavers more important than all those commandments then?

>>24821379
Probably something to do with how Avestan is a dead language that is not attested anywhere outside of the Avesta itself. That kind of situation is highly conductive to critical interpretation errors creeping in over the centuries.

>>24820687
>gay sex is the worst sin
Zarathustra, I kneel...

>>24821477
And what would it be like, then? Keep in mind that Zoroastrianism is pretty anal about some animals being very sacred while others being haram.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xrafstar

>>24820757
Shit, just saw that i replied to the wrong post. Meant for >>24820715